"I reached out to you to defend somebody who’s worth defending," she said.

Indeed, McMann was calling to defend her fellow U.S. Olympic wrestling mate, Daniel Cormier. She was particularly bothered by the fact that Cormier’s new UFC 170 opponent, newcomer Patrick Cummins, who agreed to fight Cormier on nine days' notice after Rashad Evans withdrew from the bout due to a knee injury, exploited wrestling tradition to attract the attention she so desperately avoids.

"I don’t think people understand what we go through to be prepared for the Olympics," she said. "Wrestling is kind of different than a lot of other sports."

McMann said she was "shocked" that Cummins was running with the story that he made Cormier cry during a wrestling practice a decade ago. And while Cormier hasn’t denied the claim, McMann said Cummins is taking too much credit for an accomplishment he didn’t necessarily earn.

"The coaches are responsible for breaking him, not anybody else," McMann said. "It could be labeled as sadistic. It is so difficult. That’s how we prepare for things.

"During these practices, we are always down on points. We have people rotating in on us. They are people in our weight class that are eating whatever they want, they’re fresh because they get breaks and we don’t. They have no pressure on them. It’s a little bit ridiculous because these practices are designed to break us. These coaches won’t stop until you are flaking out, until you are at your absolute lowest point. That’s the way it’s been in wrestling forever.

"To say that he made [Cormier] cry, that’s just crazy to me."

Cummins was a part of group of wrestlers brought in to help Cormier, a member of the 2004 and 2008 USA Olympic wrestling team, prepare for the 2004 Games at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. McMann, who won a silver medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Summer Olympics, said she’s been in Cormier’s shoes before and reacted in a similar fashion.

"Every single person in there feels that way.

"This is a normal range of emotions that comes when you are being tested like that. It’s so that when you are in the biggest moments of your entire life, you know that you can pull your sh*t together and get it done."

Interestingly enough, Cummins, who accepted the fight Thursday afternoon, has arguably garnered more media attention over the past few days than McMann has leading up to her title fight, which was announced on Dec. 28. McMann said she hasn’t noticed the apparent minimal coverage because she doesn’t pay attention to the media. She also said, if that’s true, there’s no one to blame but herself because she tends to avoid interviews.

"That’s the great thing about fighting Ronda, she’ll sell the show. And that’s fine with me.

"I don’t really need other people to believe in me, to know what I can do. I would have never been able to wrestle or even start MMA if that’s what I needed beforehand. Being a little unknown, I’m happier that way."

McMann is a fairly sizable underdog going into Saturday night, but not as big as the newcomer Cummins, who enters his UFC debut just 4-0. They will share that in common come Saturday night. But while McMann believes Cummins’ time in MMA will come, she's not supportive of how he got to the big show.

"I think Pat is a really great athlete, and I think this is going to be a tough fight, but I think that poking the bear and getting Daniel this pissed off, I don’t think it was a good idea," she said. "I don’t think he’s someone who breaks down when he gets pissed off. I think he’s someone who goes for blood. I don’t think that was the right approach to get into Daniel’s head.

"Pat Cummins is dangerous because he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. That’s a very dangerous opponent. But to release that he somehow has some kind of advantage over Cormier, I just have to say no.

"He’s painting the picture that Daniel is some little wussy, for lack of a better word, for having experienced this, when anybody who is worth a crap has been pushed to this limit."

02-16-2014, 02:27 PM

SimpleJack

I had a buddy who is a wrestling coach and consultant over who said the exact same thing repeatedly. He said they just keep rotating fresh guys in for 30-45 minutes until you break and everyone breaks.

So what.

02-16-2014, 03:12 PM

IceCold48

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimpleJack

I had a buddy who is a wrestling coach and consultant over who said the exact same thing repeatedly. He said they just keep rotating fresh guys in for 30-45 minutes until you break and everyone breaks.

So what.

It is a desperate attempt to start a rivalry to try and salvage this card from getting less than 200k buys.

02-17-2014, 03:05 AM

Rise

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceCold48

It is a desperate attempt to start a rivalry to try and salvage this card from getting less than 200k buys.

Yup trying to legitimize this match as being a relevant co-main event rather then something thrown together at the last minute for a card that was likely to struggle on PPV buys before Rashad was even injured

02-17-2014, 07:40 AM

1inthechamber

It won't look as relevant if by some chance Cormier get smashed. People will just say he's "overrated".

Want Cormier to smash him but I won't mind an upset since I dropped money against him eith those odds I couldn't pass lol.

02-17-2014, 10:59 AM

SimpleJack

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceCold48

It is a desperate attempt to start a rivalry to try and salvage this card from getting less than 200k buys.

Oh for sure. Ronda can't exactly throw daggers at McCann because she's a great lady and a fellow Olympian. So, they have to sell this garbage.

02-17-2014, 12:05 PM

scottsec

This ppv is shit....

02-17-2014, 02:26 PM

rivethead

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Icon

touche but for the record nobody is calling wrestling a sport, its sports entertainment, If you read my post above, I myself said it isn't a sport but more of an art form much like Ballet. My point is that professional wrestling may have determined outcomes but to sit here and down talk what they do for our entertainment is ignorant.

I'm not sure who you might be addressing.

I don't think clarifying that it isn't a sport is down talking anything...but you may not have been addressing anything I've written.

Quote:

Wrestlers put themselves at risk every time they step in the ring, so to call it bullshit is disrespectful. I would challenge anyone on this forum to go through wrestling training and come back and tell me what they just did was "fake", in fact I bet 50% would not make it through a week.

I wouldn't make a week in Jim Rose's Circus, either. But that's not a sport, either.

Quote:

I get that pro wrestling is a polarizing discussion, especially here but it frustrates me to see people make such statements without true knowledge. Stating that the only people that enjoy wrestling are those with low IQ's is simply not true and is offensive to those of us that enjoy the product for what it is.

Again, I didn't make any of those statements, and I certainly can't speak for anyone's IQ.
But anyone pretending it's a sport--or even stretching it to "sports entertainment" is fooling themselves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sakara=Excitement

Quote:

Originally Posted by rivethead

ballet dancers are more athletic than professional wrestlers.

rh

No...not it's not.

Your syntax doesn't match my statement, so I'm not sure where to begin.
But if you think your average professonal wrestler is more athletic than your average professional ballet dancer, you would be incorrect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmawolverine

so apparently rivetheads hatred for prowrestling must be linked to childhood trauma same as my distain for clowns.

I don't hate anything, not even politicians...although I do wish they'd all go away.

I am a big fan of accuracy, however.

Quote:

I never understood why people shit on prowrestling for being fake. All performing arts are fake in the sense that they are scripted and predetermined but u dont hear people cryn that their favorite movie soap opera or ballet was fake. All performing arts require passion and skill stop dissn pro wrestling.

I would say you've hit the nail on the head. Far more than "sports entertainment" I'd say that professional wrestling is an "athletic soap opera."

The difference to me is that using a term like "sports" directly implies competition, and you're left with the impression that it would be something like an exhibition match, where athletes compete, but not as vigorously as usual. The scripted, albeit passionate choreography of professional wrestling are much closer to a soap opera being performed by athletic individuals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimpleJack

I had a buddy who is a wrestling coach and consultant over who said the exact same thing repeatedly. He said they just keep rotating fresh guys in for 30-45 minutes until you break and everyone breaks.

So what.

yes. Patrick was lucky to be at that exact place in line, at that exact time, with those exact circumstances.

It doesn't mean he can't win, it just means that it's not a good indicator of what will happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceCold48

It is a desperate attempt to start a rivalry to try and salvage this card from getting less than 200k buys.

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottsec

This ppv is shit....

and yes.

rh

02-17-2014, 03:38 PM

Pasha K

Training and fighting are 2 whole different worlds. Not because in training you beat somebody means that in the real fight you will do the same thing.

BTW Rashad Evans also was saying that in training he was easily beating Jon Jones, and then we saw what happened in their fight.

They are brining all this BS so people think "Woow, this Patrick guy made Cormier cry in training. He is a beast and this will be one hell of a fight" instead of "Who the fuck is this Cummins guy and why he is fighting Cormier? Seriously UFC fails so bad to find a good replacement?"